Calderdale strike at Lightning

Calderdale firsts held their nerve to snatch a 46-44 win over a strong Leeds Lightning side in the West Yorkshire Superleague.

They were 26-21 down at half time but hit back to draw level before sinking winning shots.

​They made an unconvincing start, Lightning taking advantage of mistakes to go 2-0 up. Coach Tayler Wilkinson made changes, including swapping Kim Walters to GS and 15-year-old recruit Gabby Woods, their player of the match, to GA.

However, Calderdale continued to struggle and the gap widened to five goals.

​More changes were made going into the third quarter and Calderdale began to grow in confidence with Clare Hunt Brown, Jess Moloney, and Hollie Thomas-Collins strong in defence.

Calderdale turned over lots of ball and accurate feeding into the shooting circle from Megan Woodworth and Sarah Heaton enabled Walters and Gabby to narrow the gap to two. ​

The improved set-up was retained for the last 15 minutes and all the players worked tirelessly to ensure victory.​

Yorkshire Brodleians’ season has got off to a superb start with both teams top of their West Yorkshire League divisions, the firsts aided by a 67-30 win over Calderdale 2 in the Premier.

They made it five out of six this season with a starting line-up of Amy Womersley (GK), Jill Roper (GD), Savannah-Michelle Henry (WD), Jess Brearley (C), Jane Parker (WA), Megan Ascough (GA) and Katie Wisniewski (GS).

Brods made a confident start to build a 17-5 lead and their attackers helped turn over plenty of ball as the lead was stretched to 32-12.

Calderdale made a valiant attempt to fight back, more than doubling their score in the third quarter alone to pull back to 48-24.

However, Brods did a text book job in the last 15 minutes with Amy Womersley their player of the match.